


A day with Riders

by AzureRegulus



Series: A life without the holy grail [4]
Category: Fate/Grand Order, Fate/stay night & Related Fandoms
Genre: Gaming, Humor, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-05
Updated: 2020-12-05
Packaged: 2021-03-09 18:20:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,890
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27900658
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AzureRegulus/pseuds/AzureRegulus
Summary: With Penthesilea busy with her work, Crio was soon at the mercy of a certain Rider asking to spend time with him, over and over again. Not wishing to ruin Atalanta's day, her master decides to go out by himself.Though another Rider that has a heart for games, got a different idea.
Relationships: Atalanta | Archer of Red / Original Master
Series: A life without the holy grail [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2019353





	A day with Riders

Buttoning his favorite white and blue dress shirt, Crio checked himself over in the mirror one more time. ‘Alright, that should do it.’. Walking outside the bath, he took a look outside.

Clouds began to gather. The waters outside were growing restless.

Autumn, the time of golden leaves dancing in the skies, was slowly knocking on the door.

“Agapi, where are you going?”.

The voice of his lovely lioness ringing in his ears, a golden bell that would lure his eyes to her, he turned his head to his right, smiling softly as Atalanta gazed at him. “Just outside for a bit. Achilles has been texting me the entire time to go outside with him and Iskandar.”, Crio chuckled as he got his black jacket. Groaning Atalanta fell to her side. Her hands tried to reach the remote on the table, but ultimately didn’t want to get out of the green covers.  
But another hand reached courteously handed it to her, stroking softly over her ears.

Smiling, he knelt beside her, resting arms and head on the arm rest of the couch. Whenever her soft lips curled up, every doubt was blown away. Carefully caressing the scar underneath his right eye, his goddess asked to him: “How long will you be away?”. “Not too long. Just keeping him company for a bit until Penthesilea gets back.”.

Sealing her lips on his, her emerald eyes shining, she whispered into his ear.

“Be careful outside. And don’t keep me waiting for too long.”.

Outside at the park, Crio sat down on a bench. With the weather getting colder, couples began to gather more outside.

Watching a man in a black suit walk by with a scowl on his face as he was ranting on the phone, Crio chuckled a bit as he just threw the barely ignited cigarette on the ground. With a shake of his head he pressed down with his foot to make sure it was out properly.

“Huh, now that I think about it, when did you smoke the last time?”.

“And now that I think about it, you remember how I nearly removed Amakusa’s hand when he snuck up on me like that, right?”, Crio gave a lighthearted warning at the green haired Rider nervously laughing beside him. Stroking his goatee Crio began to think. “I didn’t smoke that often. Mostly to relax or I had to stay up long. But with Atalanta as your wife, smoking is not an option. Good thing, honestly. My body is broken enough as it is.”. “Says the Master of Archer of Red who nearly broke my nose.”, Crio listened to the Rider who jumped over the bench and perfectly sat down beside him, holding out an energy drink. Upon gazing over Crio’s face, the brown eyes fixated at the scar on his left eyebrow. He noticed the stare beside him immediately with his eyebrow rising.

“More than enough knives for lifetimes, Achilles.”.

“But not all of them, huh?”.

“Do you think I only fought guys like you using spears or raging amazons and archers?  
Yakuzas and Mafias are the current problems of this time and they are armed to the teeth with weapons worse than just projectiles.”, Crio explained, his finger tracing the slash mark. “That one was from a Yakuza who was completely out for blood. They call him the ‘mad dog of Shimano’.”. “Mad dog?”, came the question with an idiotic grin.

“You think it is funny because of the ‘dog’ in the name, until you fight someone whose fighting style is unpredictable. If he had become a Servant, I guess Berserker would fit well.”.

And that minute, Achilles began to pale, remembering who his girlfriend was. That sight of the great hero paling amused Crio with every passing second.

But then the focus went to something else.

Crio’s goatee.

“Ever thought of shaving that off?”. “If Atalanta says so, I’ll do that in a heartbeat. But she never said anything about it, so it stays as it is.”, Crio threw back easily, scratching his muzzle. “I am never growing it out however. That would be too much.”.

“Uhu. A bit strange. You are always so responsible, I expected you’d shave every day for sis.”.  
“You are making it sound like I am walking around like a priest with a beard down to his chest…”.

“Say, how do you keep the shape? I know you are proficient with all sorts of weaponry, but isn’t it tough to get rid of the white stubbles with a razor.

That was a question Crio never liked to answer. At first it was embarrassing, but it had grown to be a habit.

Clenching the bridge of his nose, Crio sighed a bit.

“…I let Atalanta help me…”.

“Pff!!!”.

And that was what he expected. Honesty in exchange for laughter. But he already expected it with a weary smile. “Yes, yes. It is funny. I know. Turns out, after having my eyes injured a number of times, I need to wear glasses sometimes. When I cannot find them, Atalanta helps me. Having the eyes of an Archer is blessing.”. “Sure! Pff!”, Achilles continued to laugh as Crio’s cheeks turned red.

At least…

“Wait…your eyes?”.

“Do you have any idea how many people attempted to blind me?”.

Achilles gazed deeply into Crio’s eyes. From the outside they looked fine, but it made the Rider worry. “Hey…your eyes are okay, right? You are not getting blind?”. “Sheesh, Achilles. It is not that bad. I just a have to be careful about overstraining them, so I have to wear glasses sometimes when I concentrate on in front of a screen too much. Also, back off a bit. People will think the worst possible things if you are that close”, Crio warned, putting two fingers on Achilles’ forehead and pushing him away.

Considering the tale of Achilles and Patrocolus, Crio liked a at least a bit of distance. Though he never asked what exactly the relationship had been between the two.

“Alright, just be careful. The last thing I want to hear is that you grow blind.”.

“That won’t happen. I would be sad to not be able to see Atalanta smile anymore.”.

“Anyway, what are you doing in return for sis helping you shave your beard?”.

“…I comb her hair.”.

Silent, slow blinks shot towards Crio. Utter confusion was written all over his face. Annoyed Crio slowly rose his hand to whack him over his head.

“Why?”.

For that he earned himself a look from Crio if he was really serious. “Atalanta has a long, beautiful mane. Maintaining it is tough alone, so I offer to help.”, Crio explained the nearly daily ritual.

She would sit on the couch, hand him the comb and just wait with a smile until he was done carefully going through the strands, first with his fingers to loosen the knots.

Sometimes she’d just start leaning back against his chest, completely interrupting the ritual with smiles and giggles.

“You can’t tell me you don’t do anything for Penthesilea, right?”.

The only sound that came was the wind whistling as Achilles slowly turned his head away.

“…Cooking?”.

“…”.

“Washing clothes…”.

“…”.

“Getting groceries…”.

“…You cannot tell me you sit in front of the console all day when she is busy with her homeoffice…”.

“N-No, I am not! At least not in front of the console…”.

“So you are out with Cu the entire time even though you have a girl to take care of?”.  
“I am making sure she is not stressed!”.

“So, what are you doing? I sure hope you are not just kissing Penthesilea’s neck the entire time to get her away from work.”.

And with the silence, the blood shot to the Rider’s face.

“ACK!!!”.

And there came the slap over the back of the neck.

Craning his neck up, his teeth bared, Achilles hissed violently. The spot burned like fire and he cursed to not have his divinity anymore. He was pretty sure Crio’s hand was on fire and seeing him wave it a bit. But when he wanted to retaliate, all he got from Crio was a single glare that dug into his body.

One dark look that had a very clear message.

‘Get it together.’.

Living with a queen also means a certain sense of responsibility.

Achilles silently nodded.

Though not a queen, Crio treated Atalanta like the queen she would have been to Arcadia had her father not been an asshole.

So the least the master of the Archer of Red expects is for the guy to be married to an ACTUAL queen to at least do something in the household. He knew that Achilles showed affection to Penthesilea very openly, often bringing her to smile.

But she is no housewife. That is still the amazon queen.

That was all that was to talk about the relationships. The rest was mostly something else.  
And by the time the cans were empty…

“Where the hell is Iskandar? He calls us and then he takes his time. Tch.”, Crio grumbled, playing with the can in hand. Leaning his head against his fist, Achilles gazed around curiously with half open eyes. “No idea. It is just the other way around from the norm. We call him and he takes his time or forgets. He said he wanted us to meet with him here. Though I wonder wh-”.

“Sighnomi! Eimai edo! (I am here!)”.

A unified sigh escaped the Rider of Red and the master of the Archer of Red.

Turning their heads to the right, they saw the giant muscle mass run towards them, completely out of breath. Crio wondered to this day how that shirt of the Macedonian king’s shirt has not been torn to pieces yet.

And also why he wasn’t freezing without a jacket on. “I am not going to ask what took you so long.”. Silently agreeing, Achilles asked: “What were you calling us out for?”.

That instant a grin came over Iskandar’s lips, everything in Crio’s body seemed to flinch as he held up a bag. “I think you both will like what I have here! I came with a gift. If you both are free today of your duties from your women, how about a round between greek heroes?”.  
And both exchanged a look of wonder.

…

Turned out, because Achilles was free, Iskandar wanted to take the opportunity to bond with his role model, getting a Nintendo switch and a few games. And since he knew that Achilles and Crio were tight, he was invited promptly as well, also because he barely had time to talk with him from Atalanta being around him the entire time.

“Tora! (Now!)”.

“Ochi (No!)”.

And Crio silently watched from the sidelines with a coffee mug how Achilles’ character flew of a rainbow colored track that miraculously floated in outer space.

Taking a sip with a slight smile, he really had to hold his laughter in, or the coffee would come out of his nose. But listening to Achilles curse as he received another red shell was more than amusing. They had been lazy when it came to food as soon as the hunger settled in, so instead of offering to do something for Crio and Iskandar, Achilles just bought a few burgers and…

…Crio knew Penthesilea would be go through the roof and scream her boyfriend’s name over the entire ocean.

Everything was in chaos. The room needed fresh air from the testosterone of the competing Riders, burger wraps were all around the glass table.

She would definitely be pissed.

Either that or step out of the flat and sleep over at Atalanta while Crio was stuck with those two. He was pretty sure they the kind who kicked the other in their sleep and snored louder than a boar.

Too busy to notice, Iskandar and Achilles hissed and cursed as if their lives were on the line while Crio nonchalantly picked up the trash, opened the window to the balcony and took the cups with cold coffee.

Upon entering the apartment, Penthesilea blinked in surprise.  
Everything was perfectly clean.

Hanging her jacket up she sighed slowly the second she heard the Macedonian roar again. “The fanboy is here again…”. “Not only him.”, Crio spoke from around the corner.

With a smile to at least hear someone responsible here, she gazed around to greet him. “Yasu, Cri…o…”.

And her skin grew as white as chalk when she saw Crio of all people drying the cups.  
“…What are…”.

“Look, it was either that, or having to sleep with Iskandar and Achilles nearby and I am pretty sure both of those kick and snore in their slumber.”.

“Still! You are a guest!”, she groaned embarrassed, shaking her head. “It is Achi’s job, not yours!”. Smiling, he turned his head around to glance at the two Riders getting ever closer to the screen. “It is fine. Only this time. But since he didn’t notice you yet…”, he whispered, waving to the queen to lend his ear. “He is helping in the household…right?”.

The look he got from her told everything…

Not a single word was uttered and as thanks for cleaning up after her husband, Penthesilea grabbed two cups and greek coffee.

“I’ll at least make you something in return. Atalanta would kill me if she heard that HER husband cleaned MY apartment...”.

“You would have killed Achilles worse if you had seen what it looked like here.”.  
“I don’t want to imagine. You are angel.”.

“That you say to the devil.”.

Months ago she would have lashed out at Crio for saying that, but instead she gave a playful look.

Outside on the balcony, the two exchanged words, while glancing inside how the two Riders competed over the first place. The cups on their lips, they tiredly observed. “That is the only thing were Iskandar does not make space for Achilles.”. “Never seen that before. He practically worships agapi (my love)”, Penthesilea answered with a small sip. “He’d reflexively straighten his clothes whenever we met outside. Even to me now that it came out me and Achi have been in a relationship for a while.”.

Crio smiled a bit. These burning orange eyes of hers, warm as the sunset. “I can see why he fell for you.”, Crio admitted, getting a playful look. “Careful. I don’t want Arcadia’s huntress hunting me because her husband fell for me.”.

“You think it is that easy?”.

“I know you well enough to know that you are loyal to her as if she was a queen.”.  
With the first flash of lightning, the playtime was over.

“Looks like I should get moving. Didn’t notice it had gotten so late.”. “Yes. Half past 7. You should head home or she is going to worry.”, Penthesilea laughed, taking the cups in her hands.

And with another round lost, Achilles groaned, Iskandar flexing in victory with grin of a conqueror having vanquished his foes, before both were paler than Crio’s white mane at the sight of Penthesilea giving both a very dark grin.

That was definitely his tune to leave and Iskandar quickly followed, console and all gone. Standing and waiting in front of the door, Crio and Iskandar listened a bit.  
But there was no quarrel or anything and when Crio felt how Penthesilea’s mana pressed Achilles’ on the couch, he waved for Iskandar to get going.

Taking the long tour home, Crio began to reminisce a bit in silence with the large Rider at his side.

With a chuckle he spoke to himself: “I never would have dreamed of saying ‘I just saw Achilles get his ass handed to him in Mario Kart by Iskandar.’. What a world we live in now, huh?”. “On that agree with you.”, Iskandar laughed a bit, slapping his giant hand on Crio’s back with force that would sent a normal human either on the ground or at least hunching. For Crio it felt like a playful pat at least. “Never in my life of conquest would I have expected to meet the man I read so much about, or even befriend him. Though, I have to wonder about one thing.”.

“What is it?”.

“…Why did you prefer Odysseus over the great Achilles?”.

Clenching the bridge of his nose, Crio felt his blood boiling. “Not that topic again…”, he grumbled a bit under the watchful gaze of Iskandar. Taking a deep breath, Crio gazed blankly ahead. “Long story short, only once. When I read the stories as a child, I though Achilles was an idiot. He never thought things through and was led by emotion most of the time. That got himself and many others killed. Odysseus, while having his own problems to deal with, was brain to Achilles’ brawn. Not only that, but the biggest difference was that one was a brat that still had to grow up, while the other was a grown man that already fought a few battles and grew wiser through them. Also, loyalty to Penelope. Very admirable considering most tales of heroes.”.

“Ahh. Katalave (I understand). Hm. Then, what do you think about me?”.

“…What am I supposed to think about you?”.

Standing at a cross road, the streets were eerily empty.

Aside from a few bolts in the sky, the only ones around where the two greeks.  
Glancing behind him, Iskandar’s ruby gaze grew ever sharper, burning like a flame. That very flame that caused him to travel and conquer. Lifting a giant hand, Crio felt the conviction in Iskandar’s chest burn. “Travelling, conquering, being a king that aspires others to follow. Yet…you chose king Arthur as the king you give respect to, fighting her legacy.”, he spoke. Punching his giant chest with great force, he gave a question Crio never like to hear.  
“We are of the same land. And even considering that, there are kings that have earned respect and to admired. The legend of Ozymandias, Gilgamesh, Leonidas. Many kings that aspired their people. Yet you chose the girl. It always made me wonder, the same as why you preferred Odysseus.”.

“Because a short live of killing is just as bad as an eternity of walking through corpses, Iskandar.”.

The wind began to blow harsher every second.

Turning to face him, Crio’s sapphire eyes began to drown the flame that was in the conqueror’s chest. That was the look he was warned about.

A shark that dove into the depths, ready to jump and tear his legs off.

But that glare turned soft. “Listen, Iskandar. What you thought of to be a perfect was not wrong. Neither was Gilgamesh, at least after he grew up. Before he lost Enkidu, he was pretty much the kind of King I was sent to kill back in the days.”, Crio answered with a bit of a smile. His hands in his pockets, the blue eyes that drowned the flames of conquest reached for the stars, only finding the dark clouds, the same ones that shrouded Artoria’s mind back in the day. “Artoria…she cut her humanity away from her. She was perfect. Too perfect. A pure angel with hair of gold, made into a king for humans to be led. She loved her subjects. But for that love, she risked everything she could have been. In my view, that is as remarkable as a greek king travelling from Macedonia to Egypt.”. A small laugh escaped him. "If I had to choose whether to bow my head to a king that wants to lead war and conquer, or a king where I am allowed to let my life end peacefully...I don't think I need to say much more, do I?".

His question answered, a small smile spread on his Iskandar’s lips.

“I see. Indeed. In that way, it really is remarkable. And yes, it is known that you are tired. You still keep fighting, but because of necessity, not contest or glory. Even more understandable that you are happy to have Atalanta around you now. Still! So you’d rather follow King Arthur than a landsman?”.

“That I do.”, Crio chuckled as both crossed the street. “Though that doesn’t mean I don’t respect you. When trouble arises, there will be a time that I will have to rely on you.".

"Hahaha! The monster of the great holy grail war relying on the king of conquerors? Ah, that brings a tear to my eye! But of course. If you are in need of my assistance, I will be there.".

"That is reassuring. But I have one question…”.

“What would that be?”.

“Were you…ever in possession of a gold artefact? An orb so to say?”.

The moment the street light hit red behind them, Iskandar’s look grew sour. A click of his tongue, sharp and filled with disgust. “I asked of my subjects to bury that thing with me. I found it on my travels and soon noticed the terrifying strength it possessed. That is why I wanted to make sure no hands would fall upon it ever again.”, he explained.  
The hand holding the bag with console and games clenched tightly.

"That thing should not have ever existed...".

There was more to the story than Crio learned right now, but he didn’t mind that Iskandar wanted to stay silent about it.

With a smile on his lips, Crio nodded.

“Alright, I’ll have to go straight.”.

“Alright. Crio, it has been a joy to spend the day with you and Achilles! _Chere_ , my friend!”. “See you, Iskandar. Take care.”, Crio waved goodbye, watching huge Macedonian leave as he shook his head a bit. ‘Him and Achilles definitely have similar perspective on a few things. What a strange life I have.’.

Across the road, Crio’s ocean blue eyes caught the site of a trio of girls quickly rushing past him.

Ushiwaka, Souji and Nobunaga.

‘Add to that, seeing the demon king, Ushiwaka and Souji running before it starts storming.’, he added with a grin. Someone noticed again.

The second he opened his eyes, just like on the festival, Ushiwaka waved at him with her brightest smile. Waving back, he watched as they picked up the pace. ‘I should get home as well. I shouldn’t keep her waiting.’.

The second he was home, he already heard the soft sounds of his wife in a deep slumber. Silent as possible, Crio snuck in and removed his boots and jacket. He glanced over the couch.

Her body curled up under the comfy green blanket, Atalanta slept soundly, mumbling to herself a bit.

The second he stroked her cheek, her lips curled into the most adorable smile he could not even hope to endure with his heart nearly bursting out of his chest. Taking a deep breath, he picked the huntress up in his arms, tugging her into the bed and just watched her sleep. There was nothing else he needed in his life. 

He had a wife that he cared for and who cared for him in return. Seeing Atalanta enjoy her life without a single thing holding her back. Not her past. Not a holy grail. 

And while he did that, he always thought on what he spoke about with the king of conquerors, all the while having a soft smile plastered on his face.

**Author's Note:**

> Just a small story I came up with when Iskandar decided to drop by in my Chaldea. I am grateful that when I started somebody decided to heed me when Artoria blatantly ignored me XD 
> 
> Iskandar holds Achilles in high regards, so I could see the two of them actually spending a lot of time gaming when the big guy is not with Waver.


End file.
